Growth with Purpose: Why We Pressed Pause to Reconnect at Veracity

Growth is supposed to feel exciting.

But if I’m honest, it started to feel heavy.

Earlier this year, after setting ambitious growth targets for Veracity, I found myself in a place I didn’t expect: not energized by the work, but weighed down by it. There was no external pressure - we’re a privately held company with no investors, no outside shareholders, no board pushing us. The pressure was self-inflicted.

I confided in a fellow YPO member who’s also a strategic CEO coach. I told him, “I’m not enjoying this right now. There’s this constant feeling of something we have to do.” He asked me one question that stopped me in my tracks:

“Why do you exist?”

When I told him, “To elevate people through change” - he didn’t flinch.

He just said, “Don’t abandon your goals. But put your focus back on your purpose and drive from there. It’ll change how you see everything.”

And he was right.

Making the Purpose Proposal

That conversation lit a fire for me. I sat down and started building what would become The Purpose Proposal—a simple, intentional deck designed to help us reconnect to who we are and why we exist.

It wasn’t about values on a wall or vision statements in binders. It was something I needed to say out loud—to our leadership team, and eventually to everyone at Veracity.

I presented it to the team with one clear goal:

To shift our focus from pressure to purpose.

To move from grind to growth—with meaning.

We talked through:

• Why we’re here
• Who we serve
• How we show up in the world
• And what it looks like to grow with integrity

As I walked through the proposal, something shifted. Dialogue opened. Team members started sharing “mission moments”—times they’d witnessed colleagues stepping up for one another. Reflections from past clients. Stories about employees who had left Veracity with emails saying the experience changed who they were as a human being. And more than one person came up to me after and said, “Thank you. We needed that.”

It reminded all of us that we’re not a company driven by numbers alone.

We’re a company that believes profit is not the purpose—but it is the fuel to live out our purpose more fully.

Building Our Flywheel

“The Veracity Flywheel: Our model for building momentum through values-driven execution”

As part of this re-centering, we brought back focus to our Flywheel—a concept from Jim Collins that represents the compounding force of aligned action. It’s not about one big win, but the small, consistent movements that build unstoppable momentum.

Our Flywheel isn’t just a diagram, it’s a mantra:

“What are we doing today that moves the flywheel?”

That mindset shift helps us avoid the grind of chasing KPIs in isolation. Instead, we stay grounded in how each small decision—each act of trust, compassion, or excellence—contributes to long-term, purpose-driven growth.

Mission Moments: Starting with Why

We also introduced something new: Mission Moments at the start of every meeting.

The idea came from my time on nonprofit boards. In those rooms where funding is tight and the work is hard, they start meetings by reconnecting to the “why.” A quick story. A client win. A moment of personal growth.

We’ve adopted that same practice. Because while we’re a for-profit company, we are absolutely in the people business.

Our people help other people succeed, often on once-in-a-career transformation projects. Every contract, every initiative, every deliverable exists to elevate someone else.

So now, before we dive into the work, we stop to remember why it matters.

Growth ≠ Greed

Let me be clear: this growth trajectory we’re on—it’s not about corporate greed. It’s not about chasing vanity metrics or building for the sake of building.

And let’s be real—it takes work. It takes sacrifice. It takes sweat, discomfort, and yes, sometimes even tears.

But we choose to grow anyway. Because growth—done with intention—creates something bigger than the bottom line. It allows us to:

• Create more opportunity for our team
• Give more back to our community
• Reinvest in people, training, and development
• Be a force for good in the industries and regions we serve

That’s the purpose. That’s why we’re here.

What I Hope You Take From This

If you’re a client, I hope this helps you understand why working with Veracity is different. When you hire us, you’re not just solving a project problem—you’re participating in something bigger.

If you’re a potential team member, I hope this speaks to the kind of place we’re building. One where you can grow not just professionally, but as a person.

And if you’re a fellow leader, I hope this reminds you that success doesn’t just mean money and metrics. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your team is press pause—not to retreat, but to realign. Purpose isn’t fluff. It’s fuel.

Let’s not grow just for the sake of growing.

Let’s grow because our purpose is worth it.

Let’s grow because we’re elevating people through change.

And let’s do it together.